For almost two decades, Dean Foster has been involved in researching, writing about, and consulting on the nature of culture and its role in society, work and politics in a globalizing world. As founder and former Worldwide Director of Berlitz Cross-Cultural, as well as the founder and President of his own company, Dean has played a central role in the development of the field of cross-cultural training and consulting.
As an author and commentator, his works have focused on the intersection of national culture and human behavior; as visiting lecturer and faculty, his research and presentations revolve around the development of cultural theory in the post-modern, or post-global, world. Dean works with most major Fortune 500 companies, national governments and NGOs (the United Nations and World Trade Institutes, among others), and as guest lecturer and faculty for a variety of premier educational institutions, such as Harvard Business School, Columbia University School of Business, Darden Business School, and others. His work has taken him to over 65 countries. He is a frequent guest commentator on culture, work and international social issues on CNN, CNBC, and numerous radio shows; he is regularly interviewed in print media, such as Newsweek, USA Today, the New York Times, and elsewhere.
Dean is a familiar presenter at major international conferences related to international cultural issues. He is an active member of and speaker at the annual international conferences of the National Foreign Trade Council, the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD), the International Institute for Human Resources (IIHR), the Global Business Association, the Employee Relocation Council, and other organizations, and served as an Executive Board member of the International Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research (SIETAR).
Dean has written many articles as well as the book,Bargaining Across Borders, which was voted as one of the top ten business books of the year in 1994 by the American Library Association. Presently, Dean's new book series, The WorldWise Guides to Global Etiquette, began with the release in 2000, with The Global Etiquette Guide to Europe and The Global Etiquette Guide to Asia, followed up in 2002 with The Global Etiquette Guide to Africa & The Middle East and The Global Etiquette Guide to Latin America. Dean is a Contributing Editor with National Geographic, writing the monthly "CultureWise" column, appearing in National Geographic Traveler Magazine.
Dean is on the faculty of Fordham University, Graduate School of Business, NYC, and he received his Master's degree in Sociology from the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research, NYC.
Most Requested Topics:
• Do Expatriates Really Need Cross-Cultural Training?: Understanding the values,
attitudes and behaviors of people in various countries is key to knowing how to do
business with them. So often, we take for granted that everyone's culture is similar
to ours. To help companies gain a competitive advantage in the global
marketplace by understanding and learning about other cultures, training
organizations, such as Windham International, offer cross-cultural training.
• Western Workers, Eastern Ethos--The Ying And Yang Of Managing In Asia: Over
the next decade, a staggering 75% of the projected growth in international
business will come from the world's emerging markets--particularly from China,
and its neighbors in the Pacific Rim. Clearly, American business and the
American workers who follow are packing their bags and going very Far East. And
therein lies the challenge: East meeting West. As technology brings the world
together, clashes of cultural differences are magnified, ironically, just as we learn
about new ways of working and living together on the planet. Like the two parts of
the universal whole, as represented in the Buddhist symbol of yin and yang, both
East and West must ultimately accept that they are each only half the story of what,
only with the other, will result in a perfect combination.
• Gender and Work in a Global World: Regardless of the reasons, men and
women certainly are different, and if those differences are made clear within a
particular culture, those same differences become ever more striking between
cultures. The different ways that different cultures handle the two genders makes
working across cultures a challenge to members of either gender, but especially
so for women, who, in many cultures, are traditionally ascribed a subordinate
position in the workplace. These challenges have grown dramatically as
organizations have increased their global operations over the last two decades,
and have been acutely felt by male and female managers and the organizations
they work for. Predictably, individual behaviors and organizational policies have
both helped to change but also reinforce some of the difficulties.
• Taking Cultural Training into the Global Millennium: Suddenly, despite the Y2K
fizzle, the magic of millennial change is beginning to make its mark. There is a
growing awareness of things "then" and "now", of "the Old Way" and "the New
Way", of "the Establishment Economy" and "the New Economy". There is nothing
magical about the millennial marker, but there is undeniably a palpable "then" and
"now" which has settled into almost all aspects of human endeavor, including the
field of intercultural training.
• Deciphering The Mysterious American Challenges of Working & Living in the
US: While many Americans may assume that everyone really wants to be
American, and given the chance to live in the U.S., actually become American, it is
not reality. You won't find an American lurking underneath every other nationality.
Believing that people are essentially the same, and that given the chance most
people would opt to live typically American lives, is an American myth that mirrors
American egalitarian values more than it mirrors reality. The fact is, many non-
Americans can find living and working in the U.S. a challenging and difficult
assignment. This has important consequences for companies relocating
employees and families into the U.S. Just as organizations have learned the cold,
bottom-line lessons of lost investments and human resource disasters when
sending Americans off to foreign lands ill-prepared, companies must consider
similar consequences when bringing in non-Americans for life and work within the
U.S. Adjusting to the U.S. requires the same kind of cross-cultural training.
• Managing the Dragon & the Tiger: Now for the first time, your managers can
develop the global skills they need in order to work more effectively with both their
Chinese and Indian colleagues. This new, combined cross-cultural program for
both China and India blends the best of our in-depth 2-day "Doing Business With
China" and our 2-day "Doing Business With India" programs into one
comprehensive 2-day program that makes it easy for you and your team to learn
all they need to know about the business cultures of these two emerging Asian
giants.
• Managing the Dragon & the Tiger: Now for the first time, your managers can
develop the global skills they need in order to work more effectively with both their
Chinese and Indian colleagues. This new, combined cross-cultural program for
both China and India blends the best of our in-depth 2-day "Doing Business With
China" and our 2-day "Doing Business With India" programs into one
comprehensive 2-day program that makes it easy for you and your team to learn
all they need to know about the business cultures of these two emerging Asian
giants.
• Relocommunication- Defining the Heart of International Relocation Traing: The
primary needs of international assignees are still not being addressed to the
degree necessary by IHR service providers. This article will take a closer look at
what those needs are, and make some suggestions for more successfully
addressing them than the current situation presently provides.
• Deciphering the Mysterious American- Challenges of Working & Living in the
U.S.: Believing that people are essentially the same, and that given the chance
most people would opt to live typically American lives (however that may be
defined), is an unique American myth which that mirrors American egalitarian
values more than it mirrors reality. The fact is, many non-Americans can find living
and working in the U.S. a challenging and difficult assignment. This has important
consequences for companies relocating employees and families into the U.S.
from abroad.
• GLOBAL POSITIONING: Negotiating in the Post-Global World
